Only three Ireland players set to feature in first game on Lions tour

Three days after they land in New Zealand, the British & Irish Lions will play their first tour game against a local Barbarians XV.

The week beforehand will see the Guinness PRO12 and Aviva Premiership finals take place and many Lions will be involved. Warren Gatland is set to give all of those players a chance to recover from their exertions and almost a full day of travel before considering them for Auckland Blues on June 7. The 41-man Lions squad will convene for the first time, as a whole, this Sunday. There will not be many tactics discussed or goals set - it is more of a meet and great with a bundle of PR and media duties to fulfil. The first training sessions will take place on Monday, May 15 before players return to their clubs on May 17. A second four-day camp will take place at Carton House, Maynooth from May 21-24. Gatland said:

"We'll do a little bit of work with those players, in terms of understanding. "The following week, in Ireland, we should have 20 odd players so, again, it's a bit like putting meat on the bones in terms of calls and understanding. The challenge, then, is bringing everyone together after the two finals before we fly to New Zealand."

With Munster and Leinster both in PRO12 semi finals, eight Irish players are likely to miss out on the first training camp. That leaves just three Ireland players likely to be available for the camp - Rory Best, Iain Henderson and Jared Payne. Ulster are in miracle territory in the PRO12, needing to beat Leinster and claim a try-scoring bonus point while Ospreys would have to lose heavily to third place Scarlets. Assuming Ulster miss out, 15 players in the Lions squad should make the training squad. Indeed, one could just about make out a starting XV from the 15 men with little in the diaries from May 14 to 17:

FORWARDS: Joe Marler (Harlequins), Rory Best (Ulster), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins); Iain Henderson (Ulster), Courtney Lawes (Northampton); Toby Faletau (Bath), Sam Warburton (Cardiff), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester). BACKS: Jonathan Joseph (Bath), Jared Payne (Ulster), Ben Te'o (Worcester), George North (Northampton), Tommy Seymour (Glasgow), Anthony Watson (Bath), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow).

Lions captain Sam Warburton may not be fully fit in time for the first camp, following his April knee injury, but Gatland will be pleased to have so many of his Lions players on hand. Saracens are in the Aviva Premiership semi finals and Champions Cup final so their six Lions unlikely to make any of the camps. The likelihood is that most of the players that feature in those two training camps will feature against Barbarians. That means Best, Henderson and Payne should get an early opportunity to stake a claim for the Test Series.